


Soft Almond

by MetallicHeart



Category: We Happy Few (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, General Byng is a good dude, I call Edmund Almond, Lost Hope, M/M, don't mind my personal ships please fffbh, hope eventually reborn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-24
Updated: 2019-12-09
Packaged: 2020-10-27 10:53:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20759183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MetallicHeart/pseuds/MetallicHeart
Summary: Edmund suddenly remembers Percy, and wishes he was around. But since Percy had autism, much like Edmund, people are convincing Ed that Percy died in Germany. Edmund almost believes it. Will Percy ever come back? Is he dead after all?





	1. Chapter 1

The memory was all too vivid in his mind. But with how much he was running around for Reg Cutty, Edmund did not much take time to remember it.

In fact, he never thought about it ever, when he was a kid. He was too busy working and trying to be happy to remember something from his childhood. It never ever occurred to him…. At least, not until one fateful day.

The Plough boys just finished ‘having their fun’ with Edmund. The leader laughs aloud and rubs his jaw. “Alright boys, that’ll do!”

The other of the boys stand and laugh at the beaten and bruised meat boy sitting against the brick wall before them. The leader sneers. “Skimpy here’s good to go,” He grabs Edmund by the neck of his shirt and pulls him close so that Edmund could feel the guy’s breath on his face. “Now Eddie, if I ever find you near our alley again, I’ll make sure you never come back, you got that?”

With how weak he was from the beating Edmund could barely manage a nod. The guy throws him down and they run for it.

This was the day that Edmund remembered his childhood.

\-------------------------------------------------

“Oh, Edmund,” Arthur frowns and rushes over. “Are you alright?”

Edmund looks up with a smile. “Hey Arfur! I’m okay!”

Arthur winces, not just at the bleeding cut on Edmund’s leg, but at his neverending positivity. “Why did they hurt you?”

“They were just havin’ their fun,” Edmund smiles a little. “I… came a little too close to their alley, he said.”

Arthur sighs. “I’m so sorry...”

“I’m okay! I’m okay!” Edmund repeats, “I’m just fine! But… Mr. Cutty is gonna get real mad that I didn’t deliver the packages...” Edmund winces at the scattered meat packages, and fear starts to fill him. “Oh I’ve probably made so many people mad…! Mr. Cutty is gonna have my head!” He tears up. Arthur winces and kneels by him.

“Hey… I can deliver the packages for you,” Arthur pats Edmund’s knee as he softly assures him, “you don’t need to worry… I can take care of it.”

“Really!” Edmund looks up at him quickly, already smiling. “Thank you Arfur!”

Arthur could not help but smile. He gathered up the packages and then Edmund. “I’ll take you to the pub; they can get you a doctor.”

“Oh they know me at the pub!” Edmund claps. “Sometimes they give me treats! Mister Front Desk Guy gives me cream soda whenever I bring him packages!”

Arthur eyes the street for Bobbies. “Oh? That sounds very nice, Eddie...”

“Percy really likes the blue cream soda!” Eddie suddenly says, causing Arthur to wince, “He likes the blue one and I like the orange one! Do you know Percy?”

“Of course I know Percy… he is my brother.” Arthur sighs.

Edmund smiles happily as he thinks about Percy, who used to be one of his only friends. They were inseparable. They read together or took walks around the park, and just talked. They were the best of friends.

Arthur approaches the pub, wincing slightly as Edmund had mentioned his long-lost brother. It was not something he wanted to remember or think about regularly.

“Say Arfur!”

Arthur sighs and stops at the door before entering. “Yes, Eddie?”

“Where is Percy?”

“I...” Arthur looks down. “Perhaps… Germany… or Russia… I don’t know.”

“Is that far, Germany and Russia?”

“Sort of… and they’re cold.”

Arthur quickly cuts the discomforting conversation by entering the pub before Edmund can speak again. Mister Front Desk Guy about faints at Edmund’s poor sight, and immediately he gets to work cleaning and bandaging the cut and putting splints on his legs. And of course, he gets a cream soda for him.

Arthur sighs. “You’ll be fine, Edmund. I’ll be on my way now.”

“Hey Arfur!” Edmund perks up. Arthur slowly turns back to him.

“... yes?”

“If you find Percy,” Edmund straightens up the best he can. “Tell him I miss him… okay?”

Arthur silently winces for a moment before answering. “I will.” And with that, he turns and leaves, rather quickly, but Edmund does not notice.

Edmund settles down and reads the newspaper, having not much else to do. His head was pounding from the beating but the cold of the soda helped soothe it. He found an article about the kids that were sent to Germany, that some of them were returning to Wellington Wells secretly now that they have come of age.

“Hm… Percy went to Germany...” Edmund watches the paper in thought. “Or Russia...” He lights up suddenly. “Maybe he will come back!”

“Percy?” A stranger suddenly looks to Edmund, overhearing his out-loud thoughts. “Percival Hastings? Unlikely.”

“Unlikely…?” Edmund looks up at the stranger, blinking with surprise. “Why unlikely?”

“Didn’t he have autism or whatzit?” The stranger asks, taking a draw of his cigar, “Someone like him probably wouldn’t last out there. He’s most likely dead.”

Edmund winces behind the paper. “Oh… okay...” He sniffs. His chest suddenly hurt, and it was not from the beating. He decided to put the newspaper down and rest his eyes. The headache had come back. He tried not to think about Percy and about his dying hope that he might come around.

How can a dead person come around? Edmund softly cried to himself, knowing it was impossible.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've never seen anyone else write a fanfic about Percy and Edmund. So... why don't I do it? :)

Arthur could not sleep that night, or the following night, or the night after or the night after that. Thanks to Edmund, he remembered Percy, and how he had betrayed him.

“I said I would go to Germany with him...” Arthur clutches his nauseous stomach with his shaking, sweating hands. “I said I would go… and I didn’t...”

Arthur rushes to the bathroom to vomit. And he vomits a lot, despite not eating much that evening. The guilt was killing him, and it hurt so bad that Arthur’s knees became unbearably weak; he could barely walk on his own. He grips the bathroom counter and looks at his sick, sweating self in the mirror.

“Oh Percy...” He mumbled before an impending sob, “I’m so sorry...” And so Arthur sobs. He wails. He does not care if anyone hears him. He was willing to die for what he did to his brother. In fact, he wanted to die. Perhaps he would meet Percy again if he did.

\---------------------------------------  
Edmund was not as perky following the day the Plough Boys beat him up. Sure, he would smile and wave and sometimes talk about his day, but he did not talk as much. His mind was heavy on the thought of Percy being dead. The weight moved to his chest and he could not breathe that well; the weight on his chest was heavy, and it hurt. He could not move around too fast or he felt faint and dizzy. 

Reg Cutty found out about the incident, and went ahead and gave Edmund some time off to heal. Arthur did end up taking his place for him, for the time being. Edmund was grateful, but he just could not express it that well.

He spent his day on the comfy bench at the pub. Mister Front Desk Guy aided to his needs whenever he needed them, and usually it was just getting him something to eat, getting him the newspaper, turning up the telly a little louder, or helping him to the bathroom. But things had been so busy lately that he could not spare Edmund a few words of conversation. The most that Edmund received was, “How are you? Do you need anything?” And that was all.

Edmund hesitated a little to lie and say that he was feeling right as rain. But inside, he was feeling more like rain than right. Rain as right. Edmund never lied before learning of Percy’s death. But now… now it is all he knows.

The poor meat boy’s attention was suddenly pulled from the newspaper to all of the sudden chatter filling the pub. There were a lot of people, plenty of townsfolk that Edmund did not recognize. They were all buying food, and a good amount of it. It almost looked like they had not eaten in weeks, and were desperate to get a bite of something.

Edmund watched. Their clothing was rather dingy and weathered. No one’s hair was combed. They looked dirty. They almost looked like wastrels, and for a few seconds Edmund believed they were. But they clearly possessed no disease of any sort, so they were not plagued. But Edmund watched. No one noticed him, but he watched.

The crowd remained for around an hour before it finally began to die down, and Edmund could see the usual patrons that he recognized. Mister Front Desk Guy sighs and rubs his face.

“Gosh, what a rush,” he says. Then he holds up a big wad of cash and smiles at it. “But I suppose it was worth it.” He puts the money in the register and looks out at Edmund. “How are you holding up, kid?”

Edmund shrugs. He forces a small smile. “Right as rain, I suppose. Um… what was all that about?”

“The crowd?” Mister Front Desk Guy asks as he starts to clean a glass handed to him by a patron, “Ah, they all said that they came from out of the country. Looking to find a place to live here.”

“Did they say where they were coming from?”

“I’m afraid not. I was so busy handling them that I couldn’t ask and I couldn’t hear if anyone mentioned it.”

Edmund swallows and looks down. It would not have mattered anyway.

A Bobby suddenly enters the Pub and approaches Mister Front Desk Guy. “Good day, Mister Reginald. How are you keeping after that rush hour?”

Mister Front Desk Guy, now known as Reginald (you’re welcome), smiles. “I have a chance to breathe now.” He laughs. 

The Bobby, who was known as Constable Oern, also chuckles. “I am glad you are holding up. However, I have been advised to tell you to watch that some of them may not be from around here.”

“None of them were from around here,” Reginald tilts his head with a confused look on his face. “They all said they were looking for a place to live here.”

Suddenly Constable Oern sighs, and he rubs his face. “They are from Germany. The children from the train years and years ago.”

Reginald swallows. “Oh… oops.”

“Yeah, they should not be returning,” Oern rubs the back of his neck. “We’ll allow the ones that did return, but come anymore, you must turn them away, alright?”

Reginald frowns. “But what if they’re hungry? I can’t just let anyone go hungry. Edmund, are you hungry?” He looks to him.

Edmund shrugs. “I’m okay.”

“I understand,” Oern crosses his arms. “Then tell them to pick it up out back.”

Reginald’s eyes widen. “Th-That’s technically segregation!! We are not America, we can’t do that!”

“I did not make the law, Mister Reginald, I cannot change it-”

“But you enforce it!!” Reginald turns red in the face. No one would have expected prior to this meeting with the Bobby that Reginald was so passionate on this subject. “I will feed anyone that needs fed! P-Please leave.”

“Sir-”

“PLEASE LEAVE.”

Oern is silent, before he nods and turns and leaves, the door’s hanging bell ringing behind him. Reginald sighs and covers his eyes with one hand as he looks down. Edmund watches to see what he does.

“... they’re people all the same...” Reginald sits in a chair and sighs. “Why can’t we have children anymore… why did they have to send them away… it makes no sense….”

Edmund frowns. “Are you off your Joy?”

Reginald takes a deep breath before answering, after a long moment of silence. “... yes.”

Edmund exhales a tiny breath of relief. “Me too.”

Reginald blinks with surprise. “Are you? Why is that?”

My best friend died. “Oh… not being able to get up and go outside to walk around, I think…?”

“Well...” Reginald stands with a smile. He takes a bag of pink PEZ candy from the counter and hands it to Edmund. “Then, let’s pretend we fit in, shall we?” And with that, they ‘pretend’ to take ‘Joy’. Reginald helps Edmund into the wheelchair and wheels him outside so that they could both get some much-needed breaths of fresh air.


	3. Chapter 3

Edmund cheered up a little getting to use PEZ as fake Joy. It genuinely made him a little bit happier. It was candy! Why not be happy about candy?

But of course, he still thought about Percy. He longed for him. He could not even remember Percy’s face but he came up in his dreams. Edmund thought of him every night before falling asleep, so maybe that was why he dreamt so much of him, he thought. Or perhaps, he just missed him that bad.

Edmund’s growing depression slowly became increasingly obvious, so obvious that Reginald moved him to his apartment, which was in the backroom of the pub. Edmund spent his day in Reginald’s bed, doing as he always did since being brought to the pub; reading the newspaper, watching the telly, being sad, or fantasizing about a world in which Percy still existed. The last two usually happen together.

Soon Sally Boyle learned had of Edmund. She always had a soft spot in her heart for the lad, as everyone did (except for the Plough boys, of course), so she came to visit him often. She brought him warm, sweet coffee and… Gwen. It did not take long for Edmund to learn about Gwen, as Sally felt she could trust Edmund enough to tell him. Edmund finds comfort to his pain in holding and cuddling Gwen, so Sally brings her along. She and Edmund do not think that Reginald knows about Gwen, but he secretly does, and he loves that there is a baby in Wellington Wells, for once in forever. He has started playing music in the pub louder, so that if Gwen happens to start crying, then no one will hear hear. She rarely cries when she is in Edmund’s arms, though. She really likes him.

After a week of visits, Edmund finally decided to ask Sally if she knew about Percy.

“Percy? Arthur’s brother?” Sally frowns in thought, “I’m pretty sure he left on the train to Germany all those years ago...”

Edmund forces himself not to wince. “Do you think he might still be there?”

“Maybe?” Sally answers as she starts to feed Gwen, “I heard he had a bit of a ment-”

“So he might be dead…” Edmund’s heart sinks.

“The only person he could really talk to was Arthur...” Sally winces slightly. “I don’t want to imagine how he would fare in Germany. I’m not sure that he even knows the language.”

Edmund then sinks a little into the bed. Sally notices the shift in his mood almost immediately.

“You… miss him, don’t you? You two were good friends… were you not?”

“W-We… were...” Edmund stammers, shaking a little at the oncoming of tears, “Then the day the children were supposed to leave came and Mister Cutty hid me so that the Constabulary wouldn’t take me… Mister Cutty hid me until I was old enough and then he gave me a job… th-there was so much stress and work in just trying to hide that I f-forgot ab-bout Percy and they t-took him and...”

Sally rubs Edmund’s back as he finally begins to cry. She gently lays down the now sleeping Gwen and hugs him. Edmund lays against Sally and shakes and cries. He tried not to let himself cry often, but as of late, he usually failed to do so. He cried a lot, and now he has again reached his breaking point.

“I-I miss him Miss Boyle...” Edmund sniffs. “A-And he’s gone and there’s nothing I can do about it…!”

Sally is silent for a moment before she softly sighs. “The way I see it is… if there is something you can do about it, then don’t worry. But if there is not anything you can do about it, then… don’t worry.”

“Why shouldn’t I worry if I can’t do anything to help it?!” Edmund sobs.

Sally rubs his arm. “Because if there really is not anything you can do, then you don’t have to do anything. Therefore there is less to worry about, and you should not worry about it.”

Edmund winces and sniffs. “But that’s the thing… I don’t know if I can do anything or if I can’t...”

“Is there a way to find out if you can do anything, then?” Sally asks.

Edmund looks down and thinks. He really thinks hard. He has spent all this time at Reginald’s thinking about Percy and Percy being missing, but he never once thought about if he could somehow find him, or at least find out whether or not he is alive.

“I… I could maybe ask around...” Edmund sniffs, “Or sit at the train station to see if he comes back...”

“There you go!” Sally smiles. “That’s more like it. Now, seeing as the second option is a little more straightforward, let’s talk about your first option. Who in town do you think you can ask about Percy?”

“It...” Edmund thinks again. “It… It would have to be someone that knows everyone...”

“Who knows everyone?”

Edmund swallows. “Um… I think I know someone… but you probably shouldn’t take me to see him...”

Sally tilts her head, confused. “Why’s that?”

\----------------------------------------  
“Sir!” A guard from the front gate enters General Byng’s room quickly. “Someone is here requesting to see you.”

Robert looks up from his newspaper. “What do you mean, someone’s here to see me? Is it Anton?”

“I’m afraid not,” The guard replies, “It is a young lad by the name of Edmund MacMIllan.”

“The meat boy?” Robert frowns. He would have much preferred a surprise visit from his secret crush, Anton Verloc. Maybe the lad had an ordered package for him that he had forgotten about.

“Well then, send him up.”

“It might be a little difficult, sir...”

“Well why is that?”

“We have a lot of stairs to go up and down… and he is in a wheelchair.”

Robert folds up his newspaper and stands. “Then I suppose I’ll be going down to meet him.” Robert steps past the guard and goes down the before-mentioned many flights of stairs, thinking of why the meat boy would want to see him if delivering a meat package was not the reason. If it really were a package then the guard would have signed off for it. Why was he needed specifically?

Having spent the day lounging rather than train his military, Robert for once did not mind having a visitor, so he would not be coming off as hostile to Edmund.

He goes to the door to meet the handicapped lad. “You are Edmund MacMillan?”

Edmund shudders unnoticeably, being in the presence of a man of incredible power. “G-Good day General Byng…! Yes! I am Edmund MacMillan! I-I hope I’m not intruding… you might be busy...”

“Oh, don’t worry,” Robert almost melts at the kid’s timidness. “I am quite the opposite this afternoon. What do you need me for?”

Edmund relaxes slightly at Robert’s non-hostility, and he smiles a little. “Well, I was hoping you could please… maybe help point me in the direction to find my friend?”

“Your friend?” Robert asks, stepping aside, “Come on in. Let’s talk about it.”


	4. Chapter 4

Percy? Percival Hastings, Percy?

Robert tried his best to remember a Percy. The name definitely rang a bell, if Edmund meant Mr. Hastings.

“Percy?” Robert asked, “As in Percival Hastings Percy?”

Edmund’s eyes light up. “Yes…! Yes, him!”

The lad that was sent away on the train, Robert thought. Didn’t that mean that Edmund shouldn’t be here either…?

“He isn’t here in town?” Robert asks.

Edmund frowns. “No… not that I know of...”

Robert really thinks. With all of the people that were sent away on the train that are currently returning to Wellington Wells, would Percy not be returning as well? Or did he not have some mental condition that would prevent his return…?

“I cannot say that I am sure of his whereabouts,” Robert answers, “but I will definitely look for him.”

The guard that answered the door blinks in shock.

Edmund beams. “You will?! Oh thank you, thank you!! How can I repay you? I don’t have much money on me but if I could just work it off-”

Robert waves his hands. “You don’t owe me a single cent, Mr. MacMillan. Don’t repay me anything. Just get on home and rest your legs. I’ll notify you if I find him.”

Edmund was on the brink of tears; in fact, he was already beginning to cheer up as hope sparked in him again. “Thank you Mister General Byng!! Thank you!!”

Shortly after Edmund had left and Robert resettled into his office chair, the guard came to him again.

“You’ll willingly do this for a commoner?” The guard asks in a shocked tone, “Only downers miss people sir!”

“Oh, anyone can miss someone they deem important,” Robert starts digging through his files for anything on the train incident. “Even I myself miss people. Do you miss anyone, Lieutenant Hagard?”

The guard, or, Lieutenant Hagard, blinks, then nods a little. “I suppose...”

“Why don’t you take the day off?” Robert asks as he continues to look through folders upon folders and filing drawers upon filing drawers, “Have the night to yourself.”

Now Hagard’s shock has reached the highest peak. The General is never THIS kind. But then, why waste the chance! “Thank you sir…! I’ll see you tomorrow! H-Have a good evening, and good luck on this person search...”

“You have a good evening as well, Mr. Hagard.”

Hagard, practically shaking with glee, rushes out of the building to his home, to his family that was unbeknownst to General… you know, the people that Hagard hadn’t seen in a while thanks to duty… and he missed.  
\----------------------------------------------  
Every day Edmund became a little more perky. Whenever the Compliment Bots would compliment him, he would cheerily compliment them back, “Thank you! And my, your metal is shiny today! Is it a recent shining? It looks wonderful!”

Everyone noticed Edmund once again becoming so happy, so everyone else was happy, too. Arthur, on the other hand, was still sick with grief, but even he was shocked at Edmund’s glee.

Edmund forced himself not to ask Robert if he had found anything on Percy yet. He was so eager to receive good news, but he knew the man was busy. He occupied himself by wheeling around town in his wheelchair and greeting people. He even made some deliveries for Mr. Cutty, who was surprised to see him so eager for work. 

Cutty’s recipient customers were excited to see Edmund back at it. They missed seeing his cheery smile and hearing his happy tone. They really wondered where he had gone, and when they looked at his wheelchair that he was in, they could take a guess.

“Look! Miss Vivian gave me stickers for my wheelchair!” Edmund excitedly displays a sheet of smiley-face stickers to Reginald. “Aren’t they so cute?”

“They’re wonderful, Edmund!” Reginald smiles. Over the past few days (about two weeks) since Edmund had visited with General Byng, Reginald had really taken a liking to the lad. When he looked at him, he felt a great sense of pride. From now until he healed, Reginald was responsible of Edmund’s life… and that he did not mind one bit.

Reginald aids Edmund in getting him onto the bench and he puts stickers on the wheelchair with him. All Edmund could do was smile uncontrollably and giggle. Only Edmund could get so excited over a few stickers.

Edmund beams at the finished masterpieces- miscellaneous happy stickers scattered around on the back of his wheelchair. “It’s perfect!! Thank you, Reggie!”

Reginald’s heart melts at the new nickname. Edmund hugs him tight, and gently, and yet without hesitation, Reginald returns the hug. The pride flooded him again.

As it had been two, almost three weeks, Edmund decided to call Robert to ask about Percy. He dialed and waited a while, and then dialed again and waited again.

Robert finally picks up. “General Byng.”

“H-Hi General..!” Edmund smiles. “How are things?”

Robert winces. “Hello Edmund. Things are… rather fine. I have not yet found anything on the whereabouts of Percy.”

Edmund’s heart hurts and his smile fades a little. “Oh… I see.”

“B-But I’m still looking!” Robert frowns. It killed him to break the lad’s heart and let him down. “Don’t worry Edmund, I have not yet given up.”

“Th-Thank you, MIster General Byng...” Edmund swallows the lump in his throat.

Robert winces at the document he had found as he holds the now silent phone to his face. The document read that Percy had enough autism that he struggles to talk to anyone he doesn’t know.

If he was still in Germany, he would be dead now.

\-------------------------------------------------  
As the hurt began to return, Edmund wheeled himself sadly into town. He couldn’t even fake a smile to protect himself from the Bobbies. He needed a breath of fresh air, but at the moment it was not too effective in helping him cheer up. Not even the PEZ helped. Even knowing the danger of the Bobbies with the batons, Edmund’s head remained hung down. But instead of approaching him, the Bobbies frowned at him as he passed; they were too confused at how such a happy lad became so depressed to approach him.

Edmund ignored greetings and people asking him what was the matter. He watched his feet as he wheeled along. He was numb to everything except the pain in his chest.

Robert had expressed his concerns to him that Percy might have died. But, Robert would continue looking. 

It did not matter one bit to Edmund. He had had enough of people telling him that Percy was dead. Now he was going to believe it… and embrace it with a heavy heart.

Edmund found himself at the train station. He wheeled himself to a lonely corner by the fence to get out of the crowd. There were lots of people here today… probably just the train people returning after all those years ago.

Edmund stared down sadly at his knees and sniffed. Little drops of tears ran down his cheeks and landed on his knees. He watched the wet spots expand slightly as they formed. He felt so hopeless and lost… and lonely.

The next train arrived soon after Edmund did. It blew its loud horn, but Edmund barely flinched even then.

He looks up and watches as people leave the train. For the first time, he wishes he could leave and go to Germany right then… maybe he would die and finally meet Percy again.

The crowd parts around one figure standing still in the center of it. It took a moment of watching for Edmund to realize that the figure’s eyes were on him. The guy was wearing a baggy, dark olive-green sweater and skinny, dark gray jeans. His dark brown hair was curly and a little messy from the train ride. In his hands he held the handle of a single black suitcase. As the crowd began to ramify away from the train station, Edmund and this man were left watching each other in silence.

Edmund’s heart seemed to stop, and his breath stood still. The air around them stood still, as well. Edmund swallows, his eyes not moving from the figure a few feet from him.

The guy is the first to speak, as he takes a single small step forward towards Edmund. “I apologize...” His voice was soft and quiet, but deep. “But...you appear rather familiar to me.”

Edmund’s stomach erupted with butterflies. He could barely breathe. “Percy…?”

The guy blinks once. Edmund suddenly breaks down in sobs.

“Percy!!”


	5. Chapter 5

Edmund was standing.

He forced himself to stand.

He pushed himself up off of his wheelchair, and he ran. Stumbling and yet powering through, Edmund ran, sobbing, to Percy.

Percy started toward him to meet him halfway. He opened his arms.

Edmund fell against him, his arms tightly wrapping around him not just to hug him but to catch himself. Edmund sobbed and he sobbed hard. He could barely breathe, he was in so much shock.

Percy held him up and returned a firm, yet gentle hug. He also was in shock, and while he was not crying, the shock showed on his face. “Edmund…? Ed?”

“Percy…! Oh god, Percy…!” Edmund could not catch his breath. He hugged Percy tighter. “You’re alive!! You’re really here...! Oh, Percy…! Oh Percy, thank God…!”

Percy sniffs as a single tear forms in his eye. He picks up Edmund so that he could see his face… and lord, Percy was STRONG. He held up Edmund with no struggle.

He looked at Edmund, every detail in his face. Every dimple and every freckle, his eyelashes and the shape of his lips. This really was Edmund, his childhood best friend.

“Oh… it’s really you Edmund,” Percy embraces Edmund against him, holding him close and comfortably, afraid to let him go again. Edmund whimpers and hugs him tight around his neck. While his sobbing had stopped, Edmund now cried a little softer, snuggling into the crook in Percy’s neck and hiding there. Everything around them faded into nothing until it was only them, embracing each other lovingly under the soft, white light of a single lamp post.  
\---------------------------------------  
Reginald was beyond shocked to see Edmund return with Percy. In fact he was so shocked that he lost his breath and nearly fainted, having to grab the counter for support. But he was overjoyed!

He prepared a nice, hot, large meal for the two of them and got them comfortable in the apartment upstairs. The apartment was small- a room for the bedroom, a bathroom, and a kitchen- but it was nice. The bed was big and plush and Victorian and white; something about a bed with white covers made it all the more comfy.

Percy and Edmund- unbeknowingly to each other- cuddled up together on the bed and ate dinner and watched the telly. They did not realize that they were actually cuddling, but they were happy, happy and comfortable.

The telly played some sort of comedy, which Edmund and Percy happily laughed at. Percy did not laugh that loud, but you could tell that he was enjoying the show.

Edmund finally noticed when he snuggled into Percy for the tenth time. His eyes widened a little and his cheeks became flushed with pink. Percy did not seem to notice how lovey Edmund was being. Edmund looked up at Percy to see if he had noticed, but Percy only smiled and softly chuckled at the telly. Edmund then looked at Percy’s arm and his body; he had muscle. Not too much muscle, but enough to be noticed… and firm to the touch. He also had chub in his belly; again, not a lot, but enough to be noticeable. It was a cute, comfy chub. Muscles and chub, to Edmund, were the best combination.

He found himself aching to snuggle in again, just to feel the sensation of the muscles and the chub against his face. Nervous, Edmund snuggled in again, this time gently pushing his face up under Percy’s arm to rest on his stomach. Now Percy noticed, looking down at him. But instead of shunning him away, Percy hugged the arm that Edmund was under around him.

“I missed you,” he said softly.

Edmund’s head skipped a beat. “I… really missed you too.”

Percy smiles. “Did… you wait for me?”

Edmund swallows. “I did...”

“How long have you waited for…?”

A short silence. Then, Edmund hugs him. “Much too long...”

Percy softly blushed and hugged Edmund closer. “I waited too long… too...”

“F-For…?” Edmund looks up at him.

“To… to try and come back...”

Edmund frowned, and then cuddled back into him. Percy hugged him with both arms now and rubbed his back. With how strong he was it felt like a massage, even though he wasn’t rubbing that hard. Edmund closed his eyes to the feeling.

Percy sighed softly. “It was…. It was… very…. It was very difficult...” He winces slightly. “Arriving in Germany…. I was… frightened… I didn’t… I didn’t know… where to go or… what.. To do…. I hid in an abandoned house…. I went to the school there… I somehow got a job… Over time I fixed the house… I made a repu-.. A-a repu-...”

“A reputation…?”

“Yes… thank you,” Percy smiles. “I made myself a reputation… people liked me. I decided to come back to Wells because I thought… there was something here I needed… a part of me I was missing… and looking for...” Percy smiled bigger and tears up suddenly. “As soon as I saw you at the station, Edmund… I… I knew that part of me that I was m-missing….. Was you...”

Edmund immediately began to cry. He hugged Percy tightly. “I missed you Percy…!! You’re a part of me, too…!!”

Percy beams and embraces Edmund, laying over him slightly so that the world couldn’t pull him away from him again. He pressed his forehead to Edmund’s and closed his eyes. The two laid there then, cuddling each other and loving each other endlessly.


	6. Chapter 6

Arthur was not doing well at all.

He confined himself to his bed. He didn’t eat or drink that much and yet he vomited a lot. He was paler than anyone could have imagined, and the bags under his eyes could have been darker than his signature black jacket. And he sweat a lot. He had been so physically weak that he couldn’t stand long enough to take a shower, or hold himself up in a sitting position to take a bath. So he didn’t. He didn’t exactly smell like flowers. Some could say that even the wastrels in the Garden District smelled better than him.

No one’s seen Arthur for weeks. Even some Bobbies wondered where he had gone.

Sally was the first to go to his house. She knocked, and having not received a “Come in!” or the door opening as a response, she opened the door and came in quietly. The smell of what could have been perceived as death hit her like a car, and she threw her hand over her mouth and gagged.

“Jesus Christ…! What the hell!” She steps into the room and looks around. “Arthur…? Arthur are you in here? Bloody hell if you are and the apartment really smells like this I will shove my foot so far up your ass-!”

The place was a mess. She looked around in shock, and then she winced. “Oh good lord… did someone ravage the place and attack him…?” She calls out. “Arthur? Arthur, answer if you’re NOT dead.”

And with this god-awful smell, she half-expected him to be dead.

“Arthur…?” She looks around the corner and sees him in a fetal position on the couch. She winces. “Oh- god, Arthur you scared me...”

She comes over and kneels by him. She tried not to gag at the smell.

“...alright buddy. Pop a Sunshine; it’s hospital time.”  
\---------------------------------  
If Arthur had not taken the Sunshine, he would not have been admitted into the hospital successfully. But with the condition he was in, they probably would have admitted him anyway.

A Joy prescriber-Doctor was assigned to him. Not only did this doctor prescribe specific amounts of Joy to patients, but he was also a health doctor; mainly a child doctor, but he could care for adults too.

Arthur was “deep-cleaned” in the decontamination room by some interns, and given fresh clothing, too. He still looked like death, but at least the terrible smell was gone.

There was a soft knock on his room’s door, and a doctor in a plum suit and red-brown hair entered with a smile. “Hello… Arthur Hastings?”

Arthur groans a little in response. Sally smiles embarrassingly. The doctor comes over after closing the door.

“Good afternoon! My name is Wills Wilfred, and I’ll be your doctor!” Wills smiles big. “So, what’s going on?”

Sally explains what she walked in on. “I don’t know what would cause it...”

Wills frowns. “I see...” His eyes light up again almost immediately. “Okay! I’m going to do a few tests, just checking his vitals and such, and I’ll see what I can conclude from those.”

Sally watched Wills’s eyes. They were emerald-green, but the right one was much paler than the other. She wondered if he was blind in that eye, or if it was just discolouration.

Despite being unresponsive to the conversation, Arthur didn’t reject the tests. Wills checked his blood pressure, his heart beat, his reflex reaction, everything.

He looks at his clipboard. “Well… his blood pressure is low, but his heart beat is even lower...” He uses his little flashlight to look into Arthur’s eyes. Wills frowns.

“Don’t find me silly, but I believe Mr. Hastings is sick with a broken heart!”

Sally coughs a little. “Pardon me? Are you serious?”

“Oh, very much so!” Wills sets down his clipboard on the counter. “Becoming sick or dying due to a broken heart is a very real thing.”

Sally blinks with surprise. “Huh… I…. that does make sense, actually.”

Wills smiles. “It’s diagnosable… but the cure isn’t always certain. It depends on what broke his heart in the first place.” The young doctor looks to Arthur. “Any idea what that might be…?”

Arthur winces. “Leave me alone...”

Sally shoots him a glare. He sighs.

“Can she at least leave the room?”

Sally crosses her arms. “Now what makes that fair?!”

Wills frowns to hear. “If it’ll make him talk… I’m sorry it isn’t ideal, but if it’ll help him...”

Sally sighs aggravatingly. “Fine… enjoy.” She goes out to the waiting room and sits. She looks down at her knees, and then looks around.

“.... Broken Heart Syndrome is a real thing, huh...” Sally looks around the room again. She saw a couple, a man and a woman. The woman’s arm was casted, and the man held her and whispered little sweet things to cheer her up about it. 

… Sally winced. She looked down at her left hand which lacked a ring. Having another parent figure around to help raise Gwen didn’t sound half bad… but Sally had a thing against men after Verloc and General Byng… so there was no one to be the other parent.

She sighed softly and stood. Maybe Gwen wouldn’t mind having one parent. It was Sally that had to get over not having a second someone.

Figuring she was no longer needed, she starts to the door and leaves. Upon exiting, she immediately runs into someone, and they both fall down.

“Ah…! Sorry!” Sally scrambles off of the woman she bumped into. A box of chemicals was dropped and bottles had begun to roll away, to which Sally awkwardly chases them down and brings them back. The other woman was just as surprised as she was. She brushes her hair out of her eyes.

“I’m so sorry, I never look where I’m going anymore...” The woman puts the chemicals she picked up back in the box, as does Sally.

Sally frowns. “No, no, it was me… I wasn’t looking either...” She looks up at the woman. The woman wore a white lab coat. Another scientist, like her…?

Sally blinks. “Those… we important, weren’t they… was anything damaged? I-I can pay to replace anything...”

“Oh, no, no! Everything’s fine!” The woman laughs and waves her hand. “Don’t you worry your pretty little head about it. I couldn’t care less if these didn’t get to the doctors in perfect condition anyway. They never pay me for my creations, you know. Neither does any other person in charge in this bloody town.”

Sally blinks. “You… crafted all of these…? I craft chemicals all the time...”

It was the woman’s turn then to look surprised. “You do? Oh I’ve never met another scientist before! Well, a female one.” She puts the box down on the ground by her feet and rises back up to shake Sally’s hand. “Helen Faraday… I’m more a lab engineer than anything… but I have my share of chemical research.”

Sally swallows. “Sally Boyle… I-”

“Oh you’re the one that makes the Blackberry for the Bobbies!” Helen chuckles. “I must say I’m impressed! Whatever you put in that stuff, they love it. They’re a little less violent when they’re on that drug trip now aren’t they?”

Sally couldn’t help but giggle a little. “Yeah… that is very true, isn’t it? They’re restless when they don’t have any, though… and getting supplies is difficult. But I get along with what I can.”

“How about we get a coffee sometime soon!” Helen bends down and picks up her box. “Or if you prefer tea we can do that too. So we can discuss how to get a steady stream of supplies for the Blackberry. I can’t imagine you dealing with grumpy Bobbies all by yourself.”

Sally blushes. Usually she would have been offended by something like that, but this time… someone offering to help her made her heart flutter. “S-Sure…! How about Sunday…?”

“Sunday works for me!” Helen smiles. “I’ll see you at the cafe on Sunday, Miss Boyle. Thanks for helping me.”

“Th-Thank you too…! S-See you…!” Sally waves as Helen proceeds into the hospital, and then she stares at the ground.

“Holy hell...” Her hand gently clutches her chest where her heart was. “My heart is racing… what even is this feeling? I haven’t felt it since Verloc-” Her eyes fly open. “Oh, christ...” She runs home to calm her newfound nerves with a bottle of wine.  
\---------------------------------------------  
Wills was then sitting next to Arthur on the bed. At the end of his tale, Arthur sighed shakily and rubbed at his teary eyes. Wills frowns.

“So… you’re worried about whether or not your brother is alive… and if he is and well… you’re worried he will never forgive you… and if he isn’t alive after all… you refuse to forgive yourself for what happened before… because you couldn’t tell him you’re sorry...”

Arthur sniffs and nods. “Th-That’s about the geist of it...”

Wills rubs Arthur’s back, and without warning, Arthur leans into him and hugs him tight, sobbing into his chest. Wills stiffens a little at the surprise, but he hugs Arthur and continues to rub his back.

“I just… regret… everything….!” Arthur could barely speak, he and his voice were shaking so bad. “I wish I could turn b-back time… and fix everything...”

Wills holds him comfortingly. “I know… the past hurts… but it’s going to be alright...”

“How could this be alright?!” Arthur winces. “How could any of this possibly be okay?! How is any of this good?!”

Wills rubs Arthur’s arms and looks into his eyes. “What makes all of this okay… is that life is going on still. The past hurts… and it’s going to hurt… but life goes on. Whether that’s a large pill to swallow or not depends on who you tell… but the more you focus on your past, the more you’ll miss now… And soon you’ll regret not living in the now...”

Arthur sniffs and looks down. “But… how could anyone forgive me for what I did to Percy...”

Wills leans in. “You woke up this morning. That is God forgiving you.”

Arthur winces and tears up again. He hugs Wills tight.  
“Maybe He’ll give you another chance...” Wills rubs Arthur’s back. “And if He doesn’t… just live. Enjoy life while you have it. Some of us aren’t so lucky as you… So live it. It’ll be hard… but the most you can do is try.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not actually religious lol. But Wills is a tiny bit!


End file.
